Heidi Mortenson

Heidi Mortenson is a Danish electronic composer, singer and producer.

Heidi Mortenson
Background information
Birth nameHeidi Mortensen
Also known asnosnetrom
Born (1975-08-21) 21 August 1975
GenresSynthwave, Electronica, Alternative, Artpop, Experimental, Indie
Occupation(s)Composer, Singer, producer
LabelsEchopal, Voodoo Echo, RUMP Recordings, Wired Records
Associated actsIOOOIO
Websitehttp://www.nosnetrom.net

Heidi grew up listening to the metallic sounds of her dad repairing cars and her mother playing the organ. As a teenager, Heidi moved to Barcelona and started to experiment with sound and acoustics.

00s

After playing her first concert, Mortenson was appointed Resident Artist 2003 at the annual experimental LEM Festival in Barcelona. Hereafter she went on a European tour with visual artist SOLU, with whom she performed the Opening Act of Transmediale Festival 2004 in Berlin.

That same year Heidi moved to Berlin, where she started working on her debut album 'Wired Stuff' and founded her own label Wired Records. Mortenson's critically acclaimed 2005 debut album 'Wired Stuff', released on Mortenson's own imprint Wired Records, revealed a visionary and bold producer. It offered up deeply queered DIY- pop – synthesized, direct tomboytronica cut with soul-y flourishes, and spell-binding androgyny.

The Danish music magazine Musiktidsskriftet Geiger selected her album 'Don't Lonely Me', as one of the 100 Best Albums of 2007. The song 'Hurt Machine' from 'Don't Lonely Me' is featured on the popular American / Canadian TV series The L Word in season 6.07.[1]

Mortenson gained attention from her concert at the SPOT Festival 2008, receiving good reviews by the press. The music magazine Gaffa credited her 5 stars,[2] Musiktidsskriftet Geiger wrote "overall probably the best concert of this year's SPOT festival and musically absolutely the bravest",[3] the UK Telegraph stated "The girl who totally blew my mind was Heidi Mortenson (…) She conjures up weirdly colourful, avant-garde dance tracks out of nothing (…) Fantastically entertaining and completely original, if Madonna really wants to start pushing popular music into new areas she should forget working with established American production talents like Timbaland and give this mad Dane a call."[4]

10s

Mortenson's style is not easy to categorize, as her songs are unbound to any specific genre. The cassette tape release Circular Tape self-released in 2010, was made from using a microphone and 7 effect pedals. The sound source being Mortenson's voice. The songs are recorded using instant composing style; meaning onto one track, without arrangement or preparation. Mortenson has also performed a great deal live as a solo act, building up songs by sampling her voice through efx pedals and singing.

In 2010 Heidi took part in Laurie Anderson's remix contest and got an honourable mention and streaming of the remix on Anderson's website.[5]

Hereafter followed the double album 'Run For Covers' featuring on one disc Mortenson's cover songs of various artists including Cat Power, David Bowie, Devendra Banhart, Anne Linnet, and more. The other disc featuring various artists' covering a self-chosen Mortenson song. This was a digital release that presented a new song every week. The release is featured on Mortenson's bandcamp.

In 2012 Mortenson composed the original soundtrack for the theater piece 'Luft Havn', which premiered in Denmark at the new cultural center Godsbanen. Later that year, Mortenson's first songs with native lyrics released on RUMP Recordings. The EP titled 'Mørk' (meaning 'Dark') gained a lot of attention and positive reviews from the critics. For 'Mørk EP' Mortenson was nominated two Gaffa Music Awards. One for Best Danish Artist and one for Best Danish Release 2012. 'Mørk EP' ("Characterized by its mature essence and pensive vocals, Mørk is a powerful combination of ferociousness and utmost delicacy.", AIAIAI) saw Mortenson, with a fearless dive into the darkness, reveal her ability to combine a new sound of pop-oriented music with blinding native language that led international listeners to their own interpretation by the sheer and unmistaken atmosphere of the music.

Hereafter followed two instrumental singles in 2015 and two singles in 2017 with Danish lyrics. And in between the native languaged album Tid which released in 2016 on Mortenson's own imprint Voodoo Echo. For this album Mortenson again was nominated two Music Awards by Gaffa. The record is perhaps Mortenson's most electronic sounding to date. In 2018 Mortenson made a sound installation for the solo exhibition of acclaimed painter Mette Winckelmann. Over this long period of several years Mortenson has stopped playing live concerts.

In 2019, reclusive left field producer, Heidi Mortenson released her radical fourth album titled Spectrum which marks the Woods-via-Barcelona-and-Berlin producer's most intimate album to date, a kinetic, self-produced record flush with attitude, playfulness and vulnerability. Spectrum offers up something brighter together with what characterizes Mortenson's music: emotionally-charged, biographical anthems drawn from lived experiences as a gay, autistic, gender-non-conforming artist. An artist on the spectrum in all regards. "Humans come in a wide variety of identities within gender and sexuality, just like people on the autism spectrum have something in common, but yet are very different. That is why it makes sense to talk about a spectrum which offers diversity instead of stereotypes.” Mortenson’s approach is emotion and commitment to detail and how the feeling of a situation translates into sound. Ultimately, Spectrum is a celebration of liberation, a melodic-filled record that sees Mortenson consolidating spectrum both personal and artistic.

Trivia

In the start of her career, Heidi used only her second name Mortenson and (reversed) 'Nosnetrom' to mask her gender. Mortenson speaks several languages: she is fluent in English, Spanish and Danish, and also speaks German and some Norwegian and Swedish. In a 2007 interview, Mortenson revealed that she is on the Autistic Spectrum, like her father and grandfather.[6]

Discography
  • "Spectrum" Echopal (2019)
  • "Tid" Voodoo Echo (2016)
  • "Mørk" RUMP Recordings (2012)
  • "Run For Covers" Wired Records (2011)
  • "Circular Tape" Wired Records (2010)
  • "Diamonds & Underwear" Wired Records (2008)
  • "Don't Lonely Me" Wired Records (2007)
  • "Wired Stuff" Wired Records (2005)

Remixes
  • Jomi Massage – I Will Be Born (Heidi Mortenson's Birth Remix)" – 2014.
  • Austra – Painful Like (Heidi Mortenson's Asperger dancefloor Remix)" – 2013.
  • Feist – Graveyard (Heidi Mortenson's Back2Life Remix)" – 2013.
  • Penny Police – Oh Lord (Heidi Mortenson's Amen Remix)" – 2012.
  • Hannah Schneider – For The Trees (Heidi Mortenson's One With Nature Rimæx)" – 2012.
  • Tasseomancy – Soft Feet (Heidi Mortenson Remüx)" – 2011.
  • Er De Sjældne – Fødder (Heidi Mortenson RMX)" – 2011.
  • Laurie Anderson – Only An Expert (Heidi Mortenson Remax)" – 2010.
  • Lise Westzynthius – Long Dark Night (Heidi Mortenson Remix)" – 2009.

References
  1. "thelwordonline".
  2. "Anmeldelse SPOT festival 2008". Gaffa.
  3. "Anmeldelse SPOT festival 2008". Musiktidsskriftet Geiger. Archived from the original on 3 March 2009.
  4. "Spot Festival: big In Denmark". London: The Telegraph UK. 9 June 2008. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  5. "RemixLaurieAnderson". Indaba. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013.
  6. "Heidi Mortenson: A Musician Without Boundaries". Archived from the original on 19 May 2009. Retrieved 17 August 2009.
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